Everything has Changed
by LeytonAlwayss
Summary: What if Peyton and Lucas had slept together in episode 1x12? Then, Lucas leaves suddenly, not saying goodbye to even Peyton. Now, 5 months later he comes back to see what he's left behind. Read and Review Please!
1. Alone

Peyton Sawyer woke up on a rainy Saturday morning. The clock flashed 7:35 a.m. She hated this time of day, when it was too early to get up, but impossible to fall back to sleep. Too much was already going on in her head. Her life had hanged so much since the beginning of junior year, when she and her best friend Brooke Davis had gotten tangled up in a love web with none other than Lucas Scott, the boy who'd changed everything.

Peyton sat up slowly and climbed out of bed, deciding there was nothing else to do. She crept across the floor to her computer catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror on the way. Hesitantly, she backpedaled to get a better look at her slightly wilted blonde curls, her ever-changing body… and her swollen midsection. Lately, it'd become increasingly apparent that it would soon be hard to hide the fact that in a few months she would be giving birth to the child of none other than Lucas Scott. Yes, the boy she'd fallen in love with, for whom she'd risked her best friendship over, had broken her heart and disappeared, but of course not without leaving something behind for everyone to remember him by.

Peyton lifted her shirt and examined her ever-expanding stomach and thought to herself about how much she missed her mom, and how much easier this would all be if she had someone to guide her. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she whispered, partly to herself and partly to her baby-to-be, "Don't you worry, everything's gonna be alright."

"What'cha doing?" sounded a familiar voice. Peyton jumped and yanked down her shirt, spinning around to find Brooke watching her from the bed. She and Brooke had reconciled shortly after Lucas left, around the time Peyton had found out she was pregnant. Peyton hadn't had anyone else to confide in, with her mom dead and her dad gone constantly. Whether or not Brooke had been speaking to her, she was still the only one who'd always been there for her, since they were little. And Brooke had had a right to be upset. Lucas had been going out with Brooke when he and Peyton had slept together. Lucas had driven her to find out about her dad and they'd gotten carried away. _Far_ away. Whether it was because of her happiness about her dad, her gratefulness to Lucas or just old feelings bubbling up, it didn't matter. In their moment of romantic bliss they had betrayed Brooke in her friendship with Peyton and relationship with Lucas. Peyton was devastated over losing Brooke and though now they've made up, she still gets that achy-guilty feeling every so often thinking about it. Even more-so when she thinks about how Brooke had forgiven her with open arms and an open heart when Peyton confided in her. Brooke even moved in with Peyton to help her out. Sometimes, even though what she had done with Lucas was an accident and she was sorry, she felt as though she didn't deserve to be forgiven to easy.

"N…Nothing," she mumbled, shuffling back over to the bed and laying down and propping herself up on her side to face Brooke.

"What's on your mind P.Sawyer?" Brooke asked, staring into the hurting eyes of her born-again best friend and grasping her hand.

Peyton sighed and let her emotions go, another tear rolling down her cheek. "Everything. Lucas…My mom…you. This…baby," she said gesturing, "I mean, all I want to know is that everything is going to be okay." With that, she broke down sobbing.

Brooke inched closer to her friend and wiped away the tears from her face. "Peyt. Look at me. Everything is going to be alright," she replied, smiling.

"But how do you know?" she countered.

"Because I just know," she replied shrugging, "You've got me, buddy. You _always_ have me. Don't you think twice about that, bestest friend. The mom issue has and always will be the mom issue. You and I both know nothing will change that," Peyton looked away momentarily, tearing up again, thinking of her mom. "And as for this baby of yours…" Brooke said, rubbing Peyton's belly, "She's going to have her auntie Brooke to take care of her!"

Brooke changed positions so that she was kneeling on the bed, bending over to talk to Peyton's stomach. "Yes you will! Yes you will!" she proclaimed in a baby voice, "Auntie Brooke is going to take you shopping! And buy you some _amazing _clothes. And take you for manicures. And…"

"If I have a boy?" Peyton broke in, unable to suppress a small, creeping smile, as she watched in wonder as her friend talked to her unborn child.

Brooke turned her head to look at Peyton. "You won't," she stated simply and kissed her belly. Peyton laughed momentarily and let her mind drift for a second to what her baby may look like, but all she could see was Lucas' face on a tiny baby boy. She suddenly got solemn again.

"…And Lucas?" she asked. Brooke sat back up and looked meaningfully at her friend. She helped her into the sitting position.

"If he's here, fine. If not, it doesn't really matter anymore. We both know it would only complicate things if he came back. He left; end of story. This baby will have so many people to love it, it will probably resent us at age 5 for smothering it." Peyton giggled and sighed. She loved Brooke and having her around all the time. Lately, she'd made a melancholy Peyton a whole lot happier. "So we're good now, bestest friend?"

"Yea, we're good," Peyton concluded, wiping the last of her tears from her face. Brooke sat back down next to her and wrapped her arms around her. Peyton had a feeling this wasn't the last of her troubles, but sometimes it helped to sit and just know she wasn't all alone in the world.


	2. Distraction

Chapter 2

Lucas Scott rolled down the window of his Uncle Keith's truck as he drove along the interstate. The rain had just calmed down, and all that was a heavy fog settling on the ground, same as the heavy feeling that was settling on his heart. He was on his way back to Tree Hill after his disappearing for almost 5 months. Well not "disappearing" exactly, but leaving with his Uncle Keith unexpectedly and speaking to nobody but his mom. He felt horrible about the way he'd left things with Brooke. And Haley. And Peyton. _Especially_ Peyton. Gosh, even thinking about her gave him the chills and a queasy feeling in his stomach. He'd messed up so bad. He hadn't even said goodbye. After that night in the hotel, when they risked everything to be with each other. And when they'd decided to be honest with Brooke… it had just all messed him up. As much as he wanted to just be with her, he couldn't. Constant reminders of him and Brooke, and the life he led before leaving the river court pained him. So when Keith offered to take him to Charleston with him, he pounced on the opportunity. He couldn't bring himself to say goodbye to her. It would have been too hard. It was still such an obviously sore subject for him, that his mother never even brought it up to him. No mentions of her, or any other person who's name had significant emotional baggage attached to it. Their weekly conversations consisted only of idle chit chat…though they both had so much more to say.

Yet, when the highway sign read "Tree Hill, 3 miles" Lucas' head spun, hands sweated and leg nervously jiggled. His body was already starting to react to the events that would obviously occur when he returned to his place of origin. He'd rocked the town, or at least the school, by making his move into the world of basketball. He began wondering how much had change since he'd gone back to a non-existent state…similar to the one he'd been in when the river court had been his home.

The closer he got to town, the more he thought about her. He'd tried so hard these past few months to make a life for himself in Charleston. Friends. Basketball. Work. And for the most part he'd succeeded in separating Tree Hill Lucas from Charleston Lucas. Yet, she was always there in the back of his mind, making sneak attacks on him every so often. Like when his iPod stumbled on a song from one of her mixes she'd made for him. Or, how his heart jumped at the sight of curly, blond hair. So many times he'd wanted to call her. To talk to her. To hear her voice, her laugh. Listen to her breath. Anything to reconnect them. But the more days that went by, the more distance that was put between them and the last time they'd been together, the harder it was to try.

At the sight of the "Welcome to Tree Hill, NC" sign, Lucas' mind snapped out of its reverie, and focused on driving to the café. His first stop was his mom. He'd take care of the messier jobs later.

He parked the car and walked into the café, straight up to the counter, pausing for a split second to watch his mother. 'Well, at least she hasn't changed', he thought.

"One cup of coffee, please", he requested.

"Sure, coming right…", Karen's voice trailed off as she looked up at the sight of Lucas, dropping the half full mug of coffee she was pouring right to the floor, letting it shatter to pieces. She immediately ran around the counter and pulled him into her arms. After a minute, she held him at arms length and took in his whole presence, not believing that the son she had not seen and had barely spoken to in 5 months was actually standing before her.

"Lucas Eugene Scott! You call your mother and tell her you are coming to town instead of popping in and scaring her half to death!"

"I missed you too mom," he replied, chuckling and hugging her again.

"So how are you, my boy? Want anything after that long car trip of yours?"

"Actually, mom, a coffee would be great, thanks."

Karen grabbed them both coffees and doughnuts and sat them down at a table. They began to talk and catch up, when something grabbed Lucas' attention through the window, or rather, someone. Karen sensed his sudden distraction and turned to see what he was so suddenly perplexed by. The figure they were both watching turned the corner, bringing Karen and Lucas back down to Earth.

"Actually Lucas, there's something you should…"Karen started.

"Hey ma," he said, cutting her off, unknowingly, "I'm gonna take off for a while. You know, get re-acquainted with the town." With that, he grabbed his hoodie, gave his mom a quick kiss on the cheek, and whizzed out of the café, before Karen had a chance to say finish what she was saying.

"I guess he'll figure it out on his own," Karen said, beginning to clear off the table as she watched Lucas head back to the truck.


	3. Something

Luke returned to the truck, his heart pounding, stomach in his throat. He'd wanted to see her for so long, his body couldn't take the sight of the real Peyton after imagining her for so long. While the most he'd seen of her was part of her facial profile and curly hair bobbing up and down as she'd turned the corner, she was distinctly recognizable to him. Simple tasks like putting one foot in front of the other, or buckling his seatbelt were now laborious. His mind was too full to focus on tedious deeds. His hands and feet instinctively maneuvered the car along the streets of Tree Hill, until they reached their destination, an ever-familiar brick house with the black convertible sitting casually in the driveway. Lucas thought it strange how the world around him stayed so calm, when he knew it would implode the second the two blonde's came face to face.

Lucas parked out front and walked across the grass to the front door, taking in his surroundings, ones he knew he'd seen so many times before. He reached the front door and hesitated, unsure of what kind of surprise his presence would bring. Would it freak her out if he just walked in out of the blue? Then again, she rarely heard the doorbell…Luke figured that she'd be dumbfounded by his appearance either way, so he might as well not be a stalker too. He settled for the bell.

He waited a minute, and when he received no response he rang again. And again.

"Fine Brooke, I'll get it," called an ever familiar voice. Footsteps padded across the floor of the foyer and to the door. One lock clicked, then the other. Luke's heart skipped a few dozen beats.

The door swung open, and there in front of him stood Peyton. He couldn't move. All he could do was look at her. Blond hair. Shining green eyes that would flicker as fast as her mood. Nose. Lips. Neck. Chest.

And then he noticed it. The place her hands had instinctively jumped to protectively when she'd opened the door and found none other that Lucas, the boy she and Brooke had been trying to forget this morning, standing at her front door. What had he done?

Luke's stomach dropped and head spun as Peyton shrank away. Luke watched guiltily as Peyton's eyes, the ones that had been sparkling seconds before from her sarcastic exchange with Brooke, turned into the drab ones that appeared when she was sad or upset. All due to him.

"Peyton, I…" Lucas began, not having the slightest clue how to address what his eyes were showing him. How could he possibly fix this? His eyes pleaded her and begged for forgiveness. Understanding. Something.

She closed the door in his face. That was something.


	4. Back

Shock was the only feeling Peyton felt as she closed the door. What was he doing here? She'd _just_ begun to get over him and hoping he'd show up. She'd gone through so much in he'd left. The tears, the fights, the make-ups, the _throw_-ups, the hiding. And most of all the loneliness. She'd just gotten used to the idea of having to raise their baby alone. How had it never crossed her mind that he would eventually, one day, return? His mom was here. Haley was here. His history was here. She'd even had the selfish idea that maybe he'd come back just for her. That idea was immediately swamped with doubt, most probably due to the fact that he'd disappeared so quickly.

"Come on Peyton, open up," Lucas called as he knocked anxiously on the front door. Peyton hesitated, knowing the huge can of worms that would be opened the minute she opened the door. Yet, somehow, she gave in to his request, keeping her free arm wrapped tightly around her body, hoping that maybe he hadn't noticed. He was a guy after all. Oh, who was she kidding? _Of course_ he'd noticed.

"What are you doing here Luke?" She accused, leaning against the doorframe, eyes flaming.

"I…I…I wanted to see you," He answered.

"And?"

"And…I felt horrible about the way we'd left things," he concluded, 100 unsure whether that was the right answer.

"The way we left things," she scoffed, "Luke you _left_! **We** didn't do anything, you did all of the 'leaving things'," she said, about to close the door again, emotionally unable to deal with this conversation.

"And you have _no_ idea how sorry I am. I know I messed up!" He took a step to her, and she took one back, farther into the house. "Gosh Peyt, I missed you so much…I thought about you all the time."

"But you couldn't say goodbye? You couldn't even call in all of this 5 month's time?" Much as she hated to let him see it, she began to cry.

"I…I wanted to…" With the hurt he was seeing in her eyes at this moment, he knew none of his words could make any of this better. He wasn't even going to bother. "But everything aside, now that I am here," he stepped all of the way into the house, "I…I want to be a part of this," He put his hands on her slightly rounded stomach, "A part of our baby"

His words were a fantasy to her. They were what she'd wanted to hear for so long, that she almost gave in. Almost gave in to the fairytale of them being together. Almost believed his words. Trusted them. Her eyes softened, and his hands traveled, one to her hip, the other slowly up to her face as he leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on the mouth.

How she'd been longing to be kissed by him for so long. However, the kiss flooded her head right back up with memories, and out of the fantasy his words had provided her. Her pain and longing of 5 month's time couldn't be fixed with a few words and a kiss. She was not about to sell herself for that little.

She moved her hand to his chest and pushed him away, pulling away from the kiss at the same time. "You left," she muttered, stepping back, hands running through her hair.

"Oh, come on Peyt."

"No Luke, _you_ come on. It's not that easy anymore. You can't just waltz in here rand patch everything up with a kiss and a few words and think I'll forget everything you put me through theses past 5 months. My life's just a _little_ more complicated than that. Just…just…you can't be here."

"You can't keep me out of this. It's my baby too!"

"This has nothing to do with the baby," she retorted, angry tears running down her face again, "But while we're on the subject, this baby will have plenty of people to love it, with or without you. It won't need you coming in and out of its life as you please…same as me." She was sobbing so hard now, he had a difficult time restraining himself from reaching out to hold her in his arms. When she'd calmed down enough, she began again. "Luke, you left me when we seemed to be happy, so in love. I risked **_everything_** for you. I didn't see the logic to it. So who's to say you won't do it again?"

"Peyton…" Much as her words stung, they had some truth in them. They were in love. There wasn't any logic. He just wished he had a way to show her he wouldn't run out on her again. That he was truly sorry.

"Please, just go," she said, turning away. He fought the urge to wrap his arms around her and reluctantly complied, turning and walking out the door, closing it softly behind him and remorsefully headed back to the truck.

Peyton continued to sob and planted herself on the bottom step on the staircase. At the sound of the door closing, Brooke made her way down the stairs to check on Peyton, broken hearted to find her hysterical at the bottom. Making the rest of the way down hastily, she took Peyton into her arms and held her tight, same as this morning, among many others when she'd found her best friend upset.

A few minutes later when her breathing had calmed, Peyton got up the courage to speak and looked at Brooke.

"Guess who's back."


	5. Explanation

Lucas had the weirdest mix of emotions flowing thorough him as he drove the truck back to the café. Agony and remorse filled his heart when he thought of Peyton, the baby, and how much he'd messed by leaving. Anger, however, swelled his brain. I steamed from his nose and ears as it burned through his eyes. He gripped the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles turned white. He kept forgetting to breathe.

Finally, he reached the café. He found a parking spot, slammed the breaks, yanked the keys out of the ignition and full out ran into his mother's store.

"How could you not tell me?!?!"

Lucas stood in the entrance way of the café. His booming demand interrupted the once bustling eatery, as the diners looked up at Luca who was staring down hi mother. Karen, who'd been making polite conversation with a customer looked up at him, disoriented at first, but then with a pained, all-knowing look.

"After all of your history with Dan and the way I was born and raised, not to mention my scare with Brooke not too long ago, you couldn't bother in all the conversations we've had in the past five months to tell me that Peyton was pregnant?!?!" The innocent diners looked back and forth between the obviously upset son and the seemingly guilty store owner. Karen rushed out from behind the counter and toward Lucas, shuffling him out the door. Lucas caught a glimpse of Haley pouring coffee in the corner. She gave him a solemn yet reserved smile in return for his silently begging gaze.

Lucas stood outside the café, glaring at his mother. She'd had every opportunity in the world to tell him, at one point or another. Why wouldn't she have? He _certainly _had the right to know. It was his responsibility too! It took every ounce of his strength to hold himself back from physically harming his mother.

"How could you not tell me?!?!", Lucas questioned again angrily.

"First of all, I tried when you came to the café earlier, to warm you just in case you saw her. But you ran out so fast!"

"And all the months before that? All of the conversations we've had over the phone?"

"Luke, you've got to understand my side. When you left Peyton hadn't known yet. You leaving like that **crushed** the poor girl. I was hurt too. I couldn't understand your reasons for wanting to leave so abruptly. I get how you could do it to me, but _how_ could you do that to _her_? And without even telling her or saying goodbye? But I decided that I wasn't going to stop you and it was your decision to leave with keith. I knew she was distraught after you left and it was Haley that had told me that you hadn't said goodbye, along with some other things. But it wasn't until about a month after you left that she came to me and told me she was pregnant. I knew it was hard on her to tell me and I wanted to help her out but she didn't really want it. I really did try. _I_ was going to be the one to clean up _your_ mess.

"But…" Luke tried to butt in.

"No Lucas! You don't get it! How was I supposed to explain to you, over the phone, that your girlfriend that you'd abandoned and had stopped speaking to was now carrying your child? How?"

"You could have tried…"

"And said what? But you know what, I did. I thought about it, but the longer you were gone the harder it was to tell you, so I just didn't. And you know what Luke, if I'd told you, I knew you'd come back because that's who you are. But you'd do it for all the wrong reasons. I knew you'd left for a specific reason; something must have been bothering you. But you only would have come back out of guilt and I didn't want that. Not for you, Peyton, or the baby. But now you came back on your own. You messed up big time, my boy, but that doesn't mean you can't try and do something about it now."

Letting her words sink in, Lucas had one more question. "Ma…are you…are you mad?"

"I got over 'mad' a long time ago. Was I happy that you got her pregnant in the first place, besides leaving her alone? No. God Luke, you messed up with her. She's _crushed_. **Heartbroken**. But honestly, she hasn't confided anything in me. Only the fact that she was with child, otherwise anything I know is from Haley." Karen looked up at her son, who, though not in size, looked so small and helpless at the moment that she couldn't resist the urge to pull him into her lap and tell him everything would be okay. She couldn't though. Number one, he was much too large but more importantly, he couldn't hide from his feelings anymore than she could try to protect him. He was a man now, caught in a _very _adult situation for someone his age. She went over and hugged him. "Go home and nap", she told him softly, "This is a lot to deal with in one day. Think about things and start new tomorrow. No matter how bad things you do are", she paused, feeling him flinch at that comment, "I will always love you." Kissing his temple, she released him and sent him on his way.

While his mother's explanation relieved his anger on not being told, knowing she couldn't have told him over the phone, it only deepened the guilt pit in his stomach. He had to figure out how to fix this, or at the very least to get her to let him help her fix it. At this moment, neither prospect seemed too bright. He drove home, emotionally exhausted and listened to his mother and napped.


End file.
